Vim Cheatsheet
Vim Cheatsheet
Vim (Vi IMproved) is a modal text editor. Every action is a keystroke — no menus, no mouse. Master the modes and you edit at the speed of thought.
Modes
# Start Vim
vim file.txt # open or create file
vim # empty buffer
vim -R file.txt # read-only mode
view file.txt # alias for vim -R
| Mode | Enter | Exit / Switch | Purpose |
|---|---|---|---|
| Normal | Esc (always returns here) | — | Navigation, commands, operators |
| Insert | i, a, o, I, A, O | Esc | Text input |
| Visual | v, V, Ctrl+v | Esc | Text selection |
| Command-line | : | Enter or Esc | Ex commands (save, quit, search) |
| Replace | R | Esc | Overtype characters |
| Select | gh (after g) | Esc | Like Visual but typing replaces selection |
Navigation
Character & Line
h j k l # left, down, up, right
0 # beginning of line
^ # first non-blank character
$ # end of line
gg # first line of file
G # last line of file
5gg or 5G # go to line 5
Words, Sentences & Paragraphs
w # next word start
b # previous word start
e # next word end
ge # previous word end
W # next WORD (whitespace-delimited)
B # previous WORD
E # end of WORD
) # next sentence
( # previous sentence
} # next paragraph (blank-line separated)
{ # previous paragraph
% # matching bracket/paren/brace
Scrolling
Ctrl+f # page down
Ctrl+b # page up
Ctrl+d # half page down
Ctrl+u # half page up
Ctrl+e # scroll down one line
Ctrl+y # scroll up one line
H # top of screen
M # middle of screen
L # bottom of screen
zt # scroll current line to top
zz # scroll current line to center
zb # scroll current line to bottom
Searching
/pattern # search forward
?pattern # search backward
n # repeat search forward
N # repeat search backward
* # search forward for word under cursor
# # search backward for word under cursor
:noh # clear search highlight
Editing
Insert Mode Entry Points
i # insert before cursor
a # insert after cursor
I # insert at beginning of line (before first non-blank)
A # insert at end of line
o # open line below
O # open line above
s # delete character and enter insert
S # delete entire line and enter insert
Delete, Change, Yank
x # delete character under cursor
X # delete character before cursor
dd # delete entire line
dw # delete to next word start
d$ or D # delete to end of line
d0 # delete to beginning of line
dgg # delete to start of file
dG # delete to end of file
cc or S # change (delete + insert) entire line
cw # change to next word start
c$ or C # change to end of line
yy or Y # yank (copy) entire line
yw # yank word
y$ # yank to end of line
ygg # yank to start of file
yG # yank to end of file
p # paste after cursor
P # paste before cursor
Repeat & Undo
. # repeat last edit command
u # undo
Ctrl+r # redo
Indentation
>> # indent current line
<< # unindent current line
5>> # indent 5 lines
== # auto-indent current line
gg=G # auto-indent entire file
Search & Replace
# Basic substitute
:s/old/new/ # replace first occurrence on current line
:s/old/new/g # replace all on current line
:s/old/new/gc # replace all with confirmation
# Range substitute
:%s/old/new/g # replace all in entire file
:5,20s/old/new/g # replace in lines 5–20
:'<,'>s/old/new/g # replace in visual selection
# Advanced patterns
:%s/\t/ /g # replace tabs with 2 spaces
:%s/^\s\+// # remove leading whitespace
:%s/\s\+$// # remove trailing whitespace
:%s/foo\|bar/baz/g # replace foo or bar with baz
Marks
m{a-z} # set local mark (a-z)
m{A-Z} # set global mark (file-wide, uppercase)
'{a-z} # jump to local mark (line start)
'{A-Z} # jump to global mark
'' # jump back to last jump position
`{a-z} # jump to exact mark position (column)
:marks # list all marks
:delmarks a b # delete marks a and b
Registers
"a # use register 'a' for next delete/yank
"ayy # yank line into register a
"ap # paste from register a
"0p # paste from last yank register
"+p # paste from system clipboard
"+y # yank into system clipboard
"*p # paste from primary selection (X11)
:registers # show all registers
Macros
q{a-z} # start recording macro into register a
q # stop recording
@a # replay macro a
@@ # replay last used macro
5@a # replay macro a five times
:reg a # view contents of macro register a
Practical Macro Example
# Record a macro to wrap a word in quotes
qa # start recording into register a
i"<Esc> # insert opening quote, return to normal
ea # move to end of word
a"<Esc> # insert closing quote
q # stop recording
# Apply to every word on a line
# Position cursor on first word, then:
qa i"<Esc> ea a"<Esc> q # (this is the macro above)
100@a # replay 100 times (stops at end of line)
Visual Mode
v # character-wise visual mode
V # line-wise visual mode
Ctrl+v # block visual mode
o # go to other end of selection
gv # re-select last visual selection
Visual Mode Operations
# After selecting text in visual mode:
d # delete selection
c # change selection
y # yank (copy) selection
> # indent selection
< # unindent selection
~ # toggle case of selection
u # lowercase selection
U # uppercase selection
:sort # sort selected lines
:!fmt # reformat paragraph via fmt
Visual Block Mode
Ctrl+v # enter block visual mode
I # insert at left edge of block (applies to all lines)
A # append at right edge of block
$ # extend block to end of each line
Practical Block Mode Example
# Comment out multiple lines with //
1. Move to first line
2. Ctrl+v to enter block mode
3. jj to select 3 lines down
4. I to insert at the block's left edge
5. Type // then Esc
6. The // is inserted on all selected lines
Buffers, Windows & Tabs
Buffers
:ls or :buffers # list all buffers
:bnext or :bn # next buffer
:bprev or :bp # previous buffer
:bfirst # first buffer
:blast # last buffer
:b 3 # go to buffer 3
:b file.txt # go to buffer by name (partial match)
:bd # close current buffer
:bd 3 # close buffer 3
:bw # wipe buffer (close + delete)
:e file2.txt # open file in new buffer
:split file2.txt # open file in horizontal split
:vsp file2.txt # open file in vertical split
Windows (Splits)
:split or :sp # horizontal split
:vsplit or :vsp # vertical split
Ctrl+w s # horizontal split
Ctrl+w v # vertical split
Ctrl+w h # move to left window
Ctrl+w j # move to below window
Ctrl+w k # move to above window
Ctrl+w l # move to right window
Ctrl+w w # cycle through windows
Ctrl+w W # cycle backwards
Ctrl+w = # equalize window sizes
Ctrl+w _ # maximize current window
Ctrl+w | # maximize current window (vertical)
Ctrl+w q # close current window
Ctrl+w o # close all other windows
Tabs
:tabnew # new tab
:tabedit file.txt # open file in new tab
:tabclose or :tc # close current tab
:tabnext or :tn # next tab
:tabprev or :tp # previous tab
:tabfirst or :tf # first tab
:tablast or :tl # last tab
:tabs # list all tabs
gt # next tab
gT # previous tab
5gt # go to tab 5
File Operations
:w # save
:w! # force save (override permissions)
:w file.txt # save as new file
:q # quit
:q! # quit without saving
:wq or ZZ # save and quit
:x # save and quit (only if modified)
:e! # reload file from disk
:e file.txt # open another file
:r file.txt # insert contents of file below cursor
:r !command # insert command output below cursor
:saveas file.txt # save under new name
.vimrc Basics
# ~/.vimrc — essential settings
" General
set nocompatible # required for Vim features
set encoding=utf-8
set fileencoding=utf-8
set number # show line numbers
set relativenumber # relative line numbers for easy jumps
set scrolloff=8 # keep 8 lines of context when scrolling
set sidescrolloff=8
set signcolumn=yes # always show sign column
set cursorline # highlight current line
set colorcolumn=80 # highlight column 80
set wrap # wrap long lines
set linebreak # break at word boundaries
set showbreak=↪ # show wrap indicator
set breakindent # indent wrapped lines
" Indentation
set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set softtabstop=4
set expandtab # use spaces instead of tabs
set smartindent
set autoindent
filetype indent on # load indent rules per filetype
" Search
set hlsearch # highlight search results
set incsearch # incremental search
set ignorecase
set smartcase # case-sensitive when uppercase present
" Performance
set lazyredraw " don't redraw during macros
set updatetime=300 " faster update time
" Persistent undo
set undofile
set undodir=~/.vim/undodir
" Key mappings
let mapleader=" "
nnoremap <leader>w :w<CR>
nnoremap <leader>q :q<CR>
nnoremap <C-h> <C-w>h
nnoremap <C-j> <C-w>j
nnoremap <C-k> <C-w>k
nnoremap <C-l> <C-w>l
Text Objects
Text objects are one of Vim's most powerful features. They allow operators (d, c, y, v) to act on grammatical units like words, sentences, and blocks.
# Inner vs Around
# i = inner (the content only, without delimiters)
# a = around (content + delimiters)
# Word
diw # delete inner word (no surrounding whitespace)
daw # delete around word (includes trailing whitespace)
ciw # change inner word (delete + enter insert mode)
yiw # yank inner word
# Quotes
di" # delete text inside double quotes (not the quotes)
da" # delete text inside quotes + the quotes themselves
ci' # change text inside single quotes
ya` # yank text inside backticks
# Parentheses, brackets, braces
di( or dib # delete inside parentheses
da( or dab # delete inside parentheses + parens
di{ or diB # delete inside braces (B = block)
ci[ # change inside square brackets
da> # delete inside angle brackets + brackets
# Tags (HTML/XML)
dit # delete inside HTML/XML tags
dat # delete around tags (content + opening/closing tags)
cit # change inside tags
# Indent objects (Python, YAML, etc.)
dii # delete inner indent (current indentation block)
dai # delete around indent (including blank line above)
cii # change inner indent block
# Paragraph objects
dip # delete inner paragraph (text between blank lines)
dap # delete around paragraph (including trailing blank line)
Command-Line Mode
# Run external commands
:!ls -la # run ls and show output
:!make # run make in the current directory
!! # replace current line with output of a command
!!ls # replace current line with ls output
# Read command output into buffer
:r !date # insert current date below cursor
:r !curl -s https://api.ipify.org # insert external data
# Sort and filter
:%sort # sort entire file
:sort u # sort and remove duplicates
:5,20sort # sort lines 5-20
:'<,'>sort # sort visual selection
:%!sort -rn # pipe entire file through sort (reverse numeric)
:'<,'>!jq . # pipe visual selection through jq
# Global command (execute on matching lines)
:g/foo/d # delete all lines containing "foo"
:g/^$/d # delete all blank lines
:g/foo/s/bar/baz/g # replace bar with baz only on lines containing foo
:v/foo/d # delete lines NOT containing "foo" (vglobal)
# Substitution flags
:%s/foo/bar/g # replace all occurrences
:%s/foo/bar/gc # replace all with confirmation
:%s/foo/bar/gI # case-sensitive (override ignorecase)
:%s/foo/bar/gn # report number of replacements without changing
:%s/foo/\=submatch(0) . " suffix"/g # expression replacement
# Repeat last substitution
& # repeat last :s on current line
:g/pattern/s//new/g # use last search pattern
# Other useful commands
:normal! gg=G # auto-indent entire file via normal mode command
:put =getline(1,5) # paste lines 1-5 below cursor
:delete # delete current line
:move 0 # move current line to top of file
:copy $ # copy current line to bottom of file
Folding
# Fold methods
:set foldmethod=indent # fold based on indentation (default, works well for most code)
:set foldmethod=syntax # fold based on syntax rules (language-aware)
:set foldmethod=manual # fold only where you manually create folds
:set foldmethod=marker # fold at markers like {{{ and }}}
# Manual fold creation
zf3j # create fold: cursor + 3 lines down
zfa} # fold to matching brace
v...zf # fold visual selection
# Fold navigation
za # toggle fold under cursor
zc # close fold
zo # open fold
zM # close all folds
zR # open all folds
zj # move to start of next fold
zk # move to end of previous fold
[z # move to start of current fold
]z # move to end of current fold
# Persistent folds (save across sessions)
:set foldmethod=manual
:mkview # save folds
:loadview # restore folds
# Add to .vimrc:
" au BufWinLeave ?* mkview
" au BufWinEnter ?* silent loadview
Search Settings
:set hlsearch # highlight all search matches
:set nohlsearch # disable highlight
:noh # temporarily clear highlight for current search
:set incsearch # show matches as you type (incremental search)
:set noincsearch # disable incremental
:set ignorecase # case-insensitive search
:set smartcase # override: case-sensitive when search contains uppercase
:set gdefault # make the g flag default in :s (affects all on line)
:set wrapscan # search wraps around end of file (default)
:set magic # default: most metacharacters have special meaning
:set nomagic # only ^ and $ are special
# Very magic mode (\v) — no need to escape most regex characters
/\vfoo(bar|baz) # match foo(bar or foo(baz) without escaping parens
/\v\d{3}-\d{4} # match phone number pattern
/\v^\s*\w+ # match lines starting with whitespace + word
# Practical search patterns
/\v<(foo|bar)> # whole word match for foo or bar
/\v^[A-Z] # lines starting with uppercase
/\v\s+$ # trailing whitespace
/\v^$\n^$ # consecutive blank lines
Advanced Substitution
# Sub-replace special characters
:%s/\n/ /g # replace newlines with spaces (join lines)
:%s/\r//g # remove carriage returns (Windows line endings)
# Expression replacement (\=)
# Number lines
:%s/^/\=line('.') . '. ' # prepend line numbers
# Increment numbers
:let i=1 | g/\d\+/s//\=i/ | let i+=1
# Submatch groups
:%s/\(\w\+\) (\(\w\+\))/\2: \1/g # swap "first (last)" to "last: first"
:%s/\v(\w+) (\w+)/\2 \1/g # same with very magic
# Range tricks
:.s/foo/bar/g # current line only
:$s/foo/bar/g # last line only
:%s/foo/bar/g # entire file
:'<,'>s/foo/bar/g # visual selection
:g/pattern/s/foo/bar/g # only on lines matching pattern
:.,+5s/foo/bar/g # current line + 5 lines below
# The e flag (suppress "pattern not found" errors)
:%s/old_pattern/new/gc e
# Replace with line from register
:%s/pattern/\=@a/g # replace with contents of register a
Abbreviations
# Insert-mode abbreviations (expand while typing)
:iabbrev @@ tobias@example.com
:iabbrev sig -- Tobias\n
:iabbrev dtdate \=strftime('%Y-%m-%d')
# Command-line abbreviations
:cabbrev W w
:cabbrev Q q
:cabbrev Wq wq
:cabbrev Qa qa
# View abbreviations
:abbrev
# Clear abbreviations
:iunabbrev @@
:cunabbrev W
# Use in .vimrc for common corrections
:iabbrev teh the
:iabbrev seperate separate
:iabbrev lenght length
External Commands & Filtering
# Run command and insert output
:r !date
:r !ls -la
:r !curl -s https://httpbin.org/ip
:r !grep -n "pattern" %
# Pipe buffer through external command
:%!python3 -m json.tool # format JSON in entire file
:'<,'>!sort -u # sort and dedupe selection
:'<,'>!column -t -s ',' # format CSV as table
:%!tr 'a-z' 'A-Z' # uppercase entire file
# Visual selection + command
" Select text in visual mode, then:
:!fmt -w 80 # reformat to 80 columns
:!python3 -c "import sys; print(sys.stdin.read().title())"
# Async commands
:!make & # run make in background
:terminal # open terminal in Vim buffer
Session Management
# Save and restore sessions
:mksession # save session to Session.vim
:mksession! # overwrite existing Session.vim
:mksession myproject.vim # save to named file
# Restore sessions
:source Session.vim # restore session
vim -S # restore default session
vim -S myproject.vim # restore named session
# Session options (control what is saved)
:set sessionoptions=buffers,winsize,resize,winpos,curdir,folds
# Practical workflow
" In .vimrc:
" autocmd VimLeave * mksession! ~/.vim/last_session.vim
" Then restore with: vim -S ~/.vim/last_session.vim
Diff Mode
# Start diff mode
vimdiff file1.txt file2.txt # open two files in diff mode
vim -d file1.txt file2.txt # same as above
# Inside Vim
:diffthis # add current window to diff
:diffsplit otherfile.txt # split and diff with another file
:diffpatch changes.patch # diff current file against a patch
# Navigation in diff mode
]c # jump to next diff hunk
[c # jump to previous diff hunk
do # obtain (pull change from other file)
dp # put (push change to other file)
:diffupdate # re-scan for diffs after edits
:diffget # synonym for do
:diffput # synonym for dp
# Turn off diff for current window
:diffoff
Terminal Mode
# Open a terminal
:terminal # open terminal in horizontal split
:terminal bash # open specific shell
:10terminal # open with 10-line window
# Navigation in terminal mode
Ctrl-\ Ctrl-N # exit terminal mode (go to normal mode)
Ctrl-w N # same as above (exit terminal mode)
# Interact with terminal from normal mode
i # enter terminal insert mode
Ctrl-w "w # move to next window while in terminal mode
# Send commands to terminal
:term send ls -la\|head # send command to terminal
# Useful patterns
:terminal make # run build in terminal
:terminal cargo test # run tests in terminal
:terminal git log --oneline # run git in terminal
Spell Checking
# Enable spell checking
:set spell # enable for current buffer
:set nospell # disable spell checking
:set spelllang=en_us # set language (American English)
:set spelllang=de # German
:set spelllang=en_us,de # multiple languages
# Navigate spelling errors
]s # next spelling error
[s # previous spelling error
z= # show suggestions for word under cursor
1z= # use first suggestion
zg # add word under cursor to good word list
zw # add word under cursor to bad word list
zug # undo last zg/zw
# View spelling suggestions
:spellgood word # add word to dictionary
:spellbad word # mark word as incorrect
:spellsuggest # show suggestions for current word
Plugins & Plugin Managers
# --- vim-plug (minimal, fast plugin manager) ---
# Installation:
curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs \
https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim
# In .vimrc:
call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } } " fuzzy finder
Plug 'junegunn/fzf.vim' " fzf integration
Plug 'preservim/nerdtree' " file explorer
Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', {'branch': 'release'} " LSP autocomplete
Plug 'tpope/vim-fugitive' " git integration
Plug 'tpope/vim-commentary' " toggle comments
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline' " status bar
call plug#end()
# Commands:
:PlugInstall # install all plugins
:PlugUpdate # update plugins
:PlugClean # remove unused plugins
# --- lazy.nvim (modern Lua-based plugin manager) ---
# Requires Neovim 0.8+
# In init.lua:
-- local lazypath = vim.fn.stdpath("data") .. "/lazy/lazy.nvim"
-- vim.opt.rtp:prepend(lazypath)
# Essential plugin commands (vim-plug)
# FZF (fuzzy finder)
:Files " fuzzy find files
:Rg pattern " ripgrep search
:Buffers " fuzzy find open buffers
:Lines " fuzzy find lines in buffer
:Commits " fuzzy find git commits
# NERDTree
:NERDTree " toggle file explorer
:NERDTreeToggle " open/close NERDTree
:NERDTreeFind " find current file in tree
# Fugitive (git)
:Git " open git status
:Gdiffsplit " git diff split
:Gread " checkout file from git
:Gwrite " stage file
:Gblame " git blame
# Commentary
gcc " toggle comment on current line
gc " toggle comment in visual mode
Autocommands
# Define autocommands (use augroup to avoid duplication)
augroup my_autocommands
autocmd!
" Auto-remove trailing whitespace on save
autocmd BufWritePre * %s/\s\+$//e
" Return to last cursor position when opening a file
autocmd BufReadPost *
\ if line("'\"") > 0 && line("'\"") <= line("$") |
\ exe "normal! g`\"" |
\ endif
" Set filetype-specific settings
autocmd FileType python setlocal expandtab shiftwidth=4 tabstop=4
autocmd FileType yaml setlocal expandtab shiftwidth=2 tabstop=2
autocmd FileType go setlocal noexpandtab tabstop=4 shiftwidth=4
" Auto-format on save (where applicable)
autocmd BufWritePre *.go FormatWrite
" Highlight column 80 for certain file types
autocmd FileType python,rust setlocal colorcolumn=80
" Set makeprg for different languages
autocmd FileType python setlocal makeprg=python3\ -m\ py_compile\ %
autocmd FileType go setlocal makeprg=go\ build\ .
augroup END
Recording & Advanced Macros
# Replay last command-line command
@: # repeat last :command
@@ # repeat last macro
# Macro registers
"ap # play macro stored in register a
"b@ # play macro stored in register b
# Recursive macros (macro that calls itself)
" Example: find and fix all occurrences of "foo" to "bar"
qa # start recording into register a
/foo<CR> # search for foo
cwbar<Esc> # change word to bar
@a # replay macro a (recursive!)
q # stop recording
100@a # replay 100 times (stops when search fails)
# Append to existing macro
qa # start recording into register a (overwrites)
q # stop recording (empty)
qaA # start APPENDING to register a
<edits>
q # stop recording
# Edit a macro as text
"ap # paste macro contents into buffer
" edit the pasted text
dd # delete the line into default register
"a # yank into register a (overwrites with edits)
Quickfix List
# Build system integration
:make " run make (or configured makeprg)
:make clean " run make clean
:cn " next error
:cp " previous error
:cfirst " first error
:clast " last error
:cc 3 " jump to error number 3
:copen " open quickfix window
:cclose " close quickfix window
:cw " open quickfix if there are errors
# Grep integration
:grep "pattern" *.py " grep in Python files
:grep -R "pattern" src/ " recursive grep
:Rg "pattern" " ripgrep (if installed, via fzf)
# Vimgrep (Vim's built-in grep)
:vimgrep /pattern/ *.py " search for pattern in Python files
:vimgrep /pattern/j **/*.py " search subdirectories (j = don't jump to first match)
:cn " next match
:copen " show all matches
# Location list (window-local quickfix)
:lopen " open location list
:lclose " close location list
:lnext " next location
:lprev " previous location
:ll " jump to current location
# Quickfix practical workflow
" Compile → fix errors → :cn → fix → :cn → fix → :ccl
Tips
Emergency: How to Exit
# If you're stuck in Vim, press Esc first, then:
:q! # quit without saving
Recover from a Crash
vim -r file.txt # recover from swap file
# After recovery:
# :write to save, then delete the swap file
Next Steps
- Bash CLI Tools Cheat Sheet — Unix command-line utilities for power users
- Git CLI Cheat Sheet — Version control commands and workflows
- Nano Cheat Sheet — Simple terminal editor for quick edits
- Emacs Cheat Sheet — Extensible Lisp-based editor